In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 17 - Chapter SS1

Bonus Short Stories 
The Phrase Girls and the Adventurer’s Guild 

“I hear this is the adventurer’s guild, Endymion?” 
“That’s right, Melle.” 
Melle, Ney, and Lycee had been given the ability to mask their appearances and hide their Phrase resonance sounds, which meant they were free to roam around Brunhild. Today, they had decided to visit the guild. They were visiting because Melle wished to see Ende’s workplace... He wasn’t exactly a guild employee, but this was the place where he earned most of his money. In a sense, you could consider him a patron. 
“We should go in, Lady Melle.” 
“Huh?! You wanna go in?!” 
Ende seemed befuddled at Ney’s sudden insistence. He assumed they’d just be visiting to look at the place, and that would be that. 
“Hm? Something in there you don’t want us to see, Endymion?! Are you perhaps hiding a consort in there? A harlot that you wouldn’t wish Lady Melle to discover?” 
“Aren’t you jumping to conclusions a bit there?!” 
Ende grumbled at Ney. She had a habit of jumping to conclusions, which Ende often had to quell before they became a true problem. 
“There are a lot of rough and rowdy adventurers, that’s all. It was more for Melle’s sake than anything else.” 
“Idiot. They won’t lay a finger on her. If they do, I’ll crush their bones.” 
Ney spoke without a care in the world, causing Ende’s shoulders to sag as he sighed. The three girls took the opportunity to trot into the guild with Ende hurriedly scuttling after them. The guild was busy as ever, with a large crowd of people in front of the quest board. 
“Hey there, welcome to the guild! Oh, Ende? Here for some quests?” 
“No, I just stopped by for a bit. I’m taking it easy today.” 
The receptionist called out to the group from behind the counter. Ende was a silver-ranked adventurer, a rank considered the highest that most people ever make it to. This slight celebrity status meant they were eligible for the more difficult quests the guild had. 
“Quite friendly with her, aren’t you, Endymion? Who is she?” 
“Is that the one you’re cheating on Lady Melle with, hm?” 
“I told you that isn’t the case!” 
Ney and Lycee started grilling Ende a little bit. Melle turned toward him with a smile, but the smile wasn’t without a threatening edge, which made a chill run up his spine. Right as Ende tried to get them to drop the subject, they suddenly heard footsteps from the front of the guild. It came from three large men who were headed right toward the reception counter. 
“Outta the way!” 

The largest of the three men attempted to shove Melle out of the way, but suddenly found himself flying backward through the air. He stumbled back, destroying a wooden table and chair that were placed nearby. 
“Gaugah!” 
“You wretch! Don’t you dare touch Lady Melle.” 
Ney stood scowling over at the man. Ney stepped in to toss him away right before his hand made contact with Melle’s shoulder. 
“Are you okay, Lady Melle?” 
“Quite fine, thanks to you, Ney...” 
Ende looked at the two and pinched the bridge of his nose. Then, he heaved a long sigh before looking back at the other men. They were already storming toward them. 
“Bastard! How dare you hurt my bro!” 
“Where do you get off roughing us up, huh?!” 
The fallen man had gotten back up and walked directly toward Ende. He didn’t seem like a rookie, but he was clearly from another town or something. If he was from Brunhild, then there’s no way he wouldn’t know he was dealing with a silver-rank. 
“H-Hey, easy guys... I know that she overreacted a bit, but she was just worried about her friend. Let’s calm down, yeah?” 
“Shut it!” 
“I ain’t hearing it!” 
“Wait, c’mon guys!” 
One of the men threw a punch at Ende and ended up getting blasted back. 
“Gaugh!” 
“Grugh!” 
A clatter and crash rang out as the two other men were knocked back as well. Ende stared in frustration at Lycee and Ney, who seemed to have taken great pleasure in bowling the duo into even more furniture. 
“You don’t get to have all the fun, Endymion!” 
“Hmph. Those guys got what they deserved.” 
Ende cringed as he turned, feeling sorry for the receptionist. She handed him a few small papers, which turned out to be the bill for the damage done to the furniture. He looked at the paper stack and opened up his wallet with a sigh.